A variety of stand-alone grills have been developed to cook different food products (e.g., turkey, chicken, and the like) without the use of a conventional kitchen oven or outdoor grill. These stand-alone grills vary widely depending on their intended use and are referred to herein as “Grillers” or “Grills.” Grills intended for use outdoors or camping typically utilize gas heating elements and windbreaks or lids. Grills intended for indoor use typically utilize electric heating elements.
Stand-alone grills offer a variety of conveniences including being an energy-efficient alternative to turning on the full-size kitchen oven or multi-burner outdoor grill. Grills also provide an extra indoor or outdoor cooking space during the holidays. Grills may also be used for baking, cooking and serving. Grills may include a lid that helps trap in heat and moisture. When the lid is removed, the Grill provides convenient access to rotate or transfer food to an individual serving dish. Generally, the Grill also includes a removable rack, tray or grill to ease cleaning and allow for the movement of large roasts or turkeys to a serving platter.
Typical Grills apply heat to food products from below the grill or rack via a bottom heating element arranged in functional relation to the bottom of the Grill, which supports the grill or rack. As such, Grills are often constructed of aluminum, stainless steel or enameled steel for reasons of durability and sanitation. However, food product heated directly from the bottom requires multiple flips to achieve even, uniform cooking.
This issue of heat transference presents a particular problem for cooking in large capacity Grills (i.e. up to 26 quarts). Applying heat only to the bottom in such a large capacity Grill can result in the upper portion of a turkey or chicken or food product placed on upper racks being undercooked. Thus, the food in the upper portion of the cooking vessel may be insufficiently cooked for serving purposes due to the loss of heat in combination with the slow rate at which heat is supplied to the upper portion of the Grill. Often such a cooking vessel lacks top-browning (i.e. to scorch lightly) capability, which is desirable when cooking chicken, turkey or other large foodstuffs.
Traditional Grills are unable to effectively brown the top of large birds such as an illustrative turkey, which results in a “white spot” on the top of the large bird. Two characteristics of traditional Grills that may lead to “white spots” are an insufficient maximum achievable cooking temperature (e.g. 450 degrees Fahrenheit for traditional Grills) and too long a time period required to achieve this temperature in a cooking chamber (20-30 minutes for traditional Grills). To effectively remove the white spot, the illustrative turkey is removed from the Grill and put into a regular oven for roasting. This two-step process creates additional work and clean-up and the extra step of cooking in a traditional oven causes the illustrative turkey to lose its moisture and tenderness. Similarly, smaller food products, such as burgers and hot dogs, placed on upper racks are not efficiently cooked due in part to the distance from a bottom heating source. Basically, a properly browned turkey that is exposed to the two-step process of using a Grill and then a kitchen oven is dry and unappetizing, while smaller food products on upper racks must cook for much longer, and smaller food products on lower racks must be flipped and attended repeatedly to prevent burning or scorching.
Thus, a stand-alone grill capable of efficiently and uniformly roasting and browning a top surface of a large food product is desirable. Such a stand-alone grill would be capable of achieving a cooking chamber temperature in excess of 450 degrees Fahrenheit in 10 minutes or less. A stand-alone grill that quickly and efficiently cooks both large single food products and multiple small food products on racks at one or more distances from the heat source is also desirable.